Conventional resistance heaters used in vehicles include protection circuits and devices to prevent overheating and failures. Many resistance heaters are preformed, stand-alone heaters made from materials and processes that render the heaters less conducive to post-manufacturing integration into components for vehicles. For example, some conventional heaters are made from inflexible and heat intolerant materials.
Conventional composite panels, particularly those with non-planar shapes, do not include integrated heaters. Moreover, conventional resistance heaters are expensive and not conducive to integrating into or co-forming with composite or multi-ply panels. Furthermore, some temperature regulation and protection systems associated with conventional resistance heaters add too much to the weight, complexity, and cost of the heaters.